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Index : Container Plants & Patio Gardening
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- 17. Brown Tips on Houseplant Leaves - Top
- One of the biggest problems in growing houseplants here in Arizona is our dry air. It's fine for our desert plants, but not so for tropical types we try to grow indoors. Anthirium, philodendron, schefflera and other leafy types are adapted to humid regions of the world. Before we buy them they are grown in greenhouses where the air is kept moist.
Inside our homes, even on a good day, the air is dry. When our homes are closed up, especially in the winter with the heat on, they become bone dry. As a result, house plants suffer! Leaves begin to dry, and as they do, the tips of the leaves turn brown. Next the margins of the leaves turn brown. Later, the lower leaves become yellow and drop.
No amount of extra watering will correct the problem of low humidity. The soil can be wet, but when the air is dry, leaves loose water faster than it can be replaced from the roots. Over-watering only worsens the problem. If the roots are kept to wet, root rot can occur. Then leaves get even less water from the roots to replace that lost to the air.
Keep the soil moist, but never wet. Pots should always have drainage holes to allow excess water to escape. Moisture meters can be an effective tool in determining when your plants need water. Just make sure your push the probe down towards the bottom of the pot. If the soil there is still wet, wait to water.
There are many ways to combat dry air indoors. You can use a humidifier to keep the air in a room, or a section of the house moist. Humidifiers that hook directly up to your furnace are also available. These are especially beneficial in battling the effects of dry air caused by winter heating.
Another way to put moisture in the air is to set your plants on gravel filled saucers. The saucers should be over-sized, to allow the moisture that evaporates off the gravel to flow up around the leaves. The gravel also supports the pot, preventing the potted plant from actually sitting in the water. Keep water in the saucer at all times, filling it up to just below the bottom of the pot. Fine aquarium gravel, available at pet stores works best. The smaller the gravel, the greater the surface area their is for water to evaporate off of. More evaporation means more moisture in the air.
Grouping plants together indoors helps to keep the surrounding air moist. This is because plants loose moisture to the air from pores in their leaves. The process is called transpiration. It is this combined transpiration, or moisture loss by several plants, that increases the humidity.
Position plants away from hot air vents, and in the coolest rooms of the house. The air won't be as dry in these locations. When light is adequate, also place plants in the kitchen or bathrooms. Moisture from baths, showers, and cooking will increase the humidity for short periods of time.
Contrary to popular belief, misting plants with water from a mister or spray bottle will not keep them from drying out. In the time it takes the moisture to dry from the leaves, the air becomes just as dry as it was before. So unless you can squirt your plants every 5 or 10 minutes, around the clock, use a method with longer lasting effects.
Besides dry air, their are some other reasons why plants can develop brown tips and leaf margins. Some plants are sensitive to the fluoride and chlorine in tap water. Spider plants, Ti plants, and Spathiphyllum are most commonly effected by fluoride, developing brown leaf tips as a result.
Excess salts from fertilizer and water can also cause leaf tips to brown. Occasionally, accumulated salts need to be leached out of the soil. To do this, apply large amounts of water repeatedly, to dissolve the salts and wash them out the bottom of the pot.
Finally, if you can't lick the dry air problem, why not grow cacti and succulents. Hundreds of beautiful and interesting varieties are available, and for toughness, they can't be beat.
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Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 520-626-5161.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Daily Star gardening column, on December 13, 1998
- Updated: February 22, 2001
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